Critters and wildflowers--Joshua Tree National Park

(Cholla Garden)




(photos, Joshua Tree National Park, March 2008)

Happy Easter

(a blooming yucca; me and a flowering Joshua tree)





(Photos March 2008, Joshua Tree National Park)

Thanks to reader Josh on my last post who helped me identify the tiny fruit-bearing cactus as a California Pincushion.

Out in Joshua Tree National Park where we visited last weekend, and all over the California deserts, the wildflowers are in bloom. This year is a banner year for wildflowers because of the abundance of rain. More posts to come on this amazing season of flowers! A time of new beginnings...

Happy Easter!

The world's tiniest cactus--flower or fruit?--Joshua Tree National Park

Last Saturday while William and I were hiking in Joshua Tree National Park across the road from the White Tank area I came upon this tiny cactus tucked beside an outcropping of rock.

I'm looking through my books and information on wildflowers. I'm thinking the red buds are flowers but they look more like fruit. Any thoughts?

Part II--A perfect day--Desert Poetry Workshop in Deep Canyon

Check out Part I of this post if you missed it...

After lunch, we headed into Deep Canyon for an hour hike. The sky was blue. Clouds filtered over in the late afternoon. Deep Canyon looked like what much of the desert might look like if left in its pristine state. Around us, the canyon rose a few thousand feet. Creosote with their long, spindly branches dotted with red blossoms outlined the rocky slopes.

Barrel cactus covered the hillside, more barrels than I'd seen in one place, some capped with a single yellow flower. Fuzzy teddy bear cholla that escaped the frost shined like gold in the sun. The prickly pears cactus were also blooming with hot pink blossoms.

Layers of sand washed down the canyon after the recent rains were pressed so flat they looked as if they'd been cut. A stream poured over rocks down the canyon's V. On a crag, a palm oasis sprouted from the rocks. So many wonders! The group of us criss-crossed over the stream as we made our way up canyon. I hoped to see a bighorn sheep, an endangered species that lives there. The sheep come down to water, Cassandra said. But not that afternoon.

The hike stretched to more than two hours, all of us caught up in exploring the landscape.The day was so beautiful, it was hard to turn around and hike out. We did though, and, inspired, wrote more poems. Finally, at 4:30, we packed up and drove out. I looked back longingly at Deep Canyon: my idea of a perfect day.

(Photos 2008, Deep Canyon, Palm Desert; Cassandra pointing out a flower)

Part I--A perfect day--Desert Poetry Workshop in Deep Canyon

A few weeks back I was invited by my friend Ruth Nolan, an English professor at College of the Desert, to attend a poetry workshop at Boyd Deep Canyon Research Center in Palm Desert.

Many people think of Palm Desert, with its golf courses, fancy resorts, and El Paseo shopping district as Beverly Hills east. There's more to the city that butts up to the San Jacinto Mountains where Highway 74 winds down from scenic Idyllwild.

Boyd Deep Canyon Research Center is part of the Natural Reserve System (NRS), created by the University of California, one of 36 living laboratories and outdoor classrooms that represent our state's rich ecological diversity. Here, scientists from all over the U.S. conduct research and field study in the canyon's pristine, undisturbed environment. Students in grades K-12 explore the canyon on guided interpretive hikes. Groups of lucky writers are occasionally invited to participate, too!

At 8:00 AM on a Saturday, a small group of writers and I met up in Palm Desert with Ruth and Dr. Cassandra Nunez, Education and Outreach Coordinator for the center. The weather was perfect, a still 70 degrees. We caravaned down a road that wound through Bighorn Country Club, through a series of locked gates, into Deep Canyon, hidden from the highway.

During a brief orientation, Cassandra told us that the center was named after Philip L Boyd, the benefactor who donated the original plot of land that now spreads over 17,00 acres. She pointed out a quail shelter where the birds are being studied. Several miles later, at the end of a dirt road, we arrived at our destination--a series of small bungalows located at the canyon's mouth facing east over the Coachella Valley to the far-off Little San Bernardino Mountains.

We set up camp on picnic tables covered by an overhang, took out our pens and notebooks, and got to work. That morning and afternoon, Ruth gave us prompts and we wrote poems inspired by the desert setting. The other writers and I went around and read what we'd written. In an exercise, I jotted this postcard:

Yellow brittlebush blossoms
bright reflections
a mourning dove in the canyon
the twittering of nameless birds

a hummingbird swaying
on a wisp of palo verde
blackened teddy bear chollas
that perished in the frost

taste the sky like artesian water
hidden wells beneath my feet


(Photos 2008, Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center)

Check out Part II for our hike into Deep Canyon...

La Quinta Arts Festival--March 13-16, 2008

I've never been to this art festival , but I hear great things about it. The festival has been going on for 26 years, and is consistently rated in the Top 10 of art festivals in the country. 250 artists exhibit and sell their work. Attendees are welcome to talk to the artists and learn about their craft and process. Art pieces range in price from $50-$50,000 dollars. (You might want to bring that stash of pennies...)

When: March 13-16, 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Where: 78495 Calle Tampico
La Quinta Civic Center
Admission:$10 for adults, $15 for a 3 day pass
children 12 & under admitted free

For more information, call (760) 564-1244 or visit www.lqaf.com

Random desert shot--Joshua tree with sign

What came first--the tree or the sign?

(photo: JTNP, road to Split Rock, December 2007)